The videogame as a specialised area of journalism. Distinctive features and career perspectives for a growing sector

Abstract

The growing interest in video games and esports can generate a source of employment for future journalists, although these new jobs opportunities will require a multidisciplinary professional profile in a difficult context. This research starts from the systematic review of the scarce scientific bibliography that exists on this subject and opts for a mixed methodology in which qualitative techniques are alternated with semi-structured interviews to professionals of recognized prestige within the video game press, and quantitative ones, reflected in the realization of an online questionnaire with closed and categorical questions to journalists from this sector. The conclusions allow us to advance that the majority of journalists dedicated to inform about these questions do it in specialized media and only a third of them have there their main source of income. They demand a specific subject on technology in University Communication Sciences studies and believe that streaming video platforms will be the preferred ones by users in the next years.